This Is the Next Best Thing to a Tesla, and I’m Buying One

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Fiat 500e is the best electric vehicle that doesn’t cost $100,000. And it’s the first EV I’d consider owning.

I’ve been looking for an affordable, entertaining EV for years. And failing. The Nissan Leaf has all the charm of a dishwasher. The Ford Focus Electric is a litany of compromises. The Honda Fit EV – while fun – feels like a plastic penalty box. And it’s best to not even mention the Mitsubishi i or the forthcoming (and poorly named) Smart ForTwo ED.

All of these EVs are an uninspiring mishmash of an existing model with a hastily engineered electric drivetrain stuffed inside. You could say the same about the 500e. But you’re wrong. By slapping an electric motor up front and a battery pack from stem to stern, Fiat has managed to make the 500 better than its gas-powered siblings. And here’s the kicker: After spending a day with one, I can say it’s arguably a better value.

Allow me to explain.

I leave a parking lot in the outskirts of L.A. and lay into the throttle. All 147 pound-feet of torque is delivered in a millisecond to the front wheels as I screech down the road. Yes, I just did an (admittedly short) burnout in an EV. Awesome.

As the initial wave of twist begins to fade, the 83 kW electric motor begins delivering 111 horsepower, which is 10 hp more than the standard 500. At just under 3,000 pounds, it’s more than enough to squirt the electrified Fiat through small holes in traffic, despite the extra 600 pounds of weight saddled to the bottom of the chassis by the 24 kWh, liquid-cooled and heated battery pack.

As any driving aficionado knows, extra weight is bad, and two linebackers worth is worse. But in the 500e the extra tonnage is used to shockingly (sorry) good effect, lowering the center of gravity and increasing the structural rigidity by 10 percent. That makes it an even more competent handler than the rest of the 500 fleet, which – if you’ll excuse the gearhead geekery for a moment – has a less-than-optimal weight balance of 64:36 front-to-rear. The 500e has something closer to a BMW, with a spread of 57:43. You just don’t find that in other EVs – except for one.

As you’d expect of something this relatively heavy and underpowered, it’s not exactly a track tool. Zero to 60 mph takes 9.1 seconds, but let’s forget about that outmoded metric for a moment and talk torque again. From zero to 30 mph, few things this side of an Italian exotic could keep up, and over that speed – like cruising on the freeway – all that’s necessary to make a pass is a quick mash of the accelerator. I’ve also have to give props to Fiat’s engineers for refraining from saddling the 500e with some some kind of ECO-mode frippery. It’s one setting, all the time, and you choose how to expend your electrons. And over a 50-mile route, I chose to have fun and still managed a respectable range, with 48 miles left on the battery.

Part of that was due to the canyon roads Fiat’s PR team expertly chose for my drive, which would capture wasted kinetic energy to recharge the battery during my descent. But even with that in mind, the 500e’s range is better than the competition. Fiat claims an 87-mile range and based off my time behind the wheel, I think they’re playing it conservative. Ninety-plus miles should be the norm for the average driver, particularly if you’re spending any amount of time in the Fiat’s prime environment: the city.

That’s where the regenerative braking system comes into full effect. Unlike the Tesla Model S and other EVs, Fiat didn’t go for an aggressive regen feel when lifting of the throttle. It’s just like driving any traditionally-powered car. There’s coasting when you lift and there’s a slow creep when you come off the brakes at a traffic light. This is the only thing I don’t like about the driving experience. I enjoy the heavy regen feel of EVs, but it’s such a minor quibble that I hesitated to mention it.

While the drivetrain is awesome, the interior leaves something to be desired. Because the 500e is based on the $16,000 500, there are cheap plastics, manual seats and only an armrest for the driver. There’s also about five fewer inches of cargo space in the trunk (not that there was much to begin with) to accommodate part of the battery, which means you’ll only have enough storage for some groceries and a toy chihuahua. But Fiat added an organizer of sorts in the boot to make up for the lack of space and swathed the seats in an acceptable grade of leather. And then there are the toys.

Mounted on the dash is a 500e-specific TomTom sat-nav, and while it tends to impede the driver’s view, you can pop it off with ease if you’re not interested in the nearest charging stations or seeing your “circle of range.” A thin-film transistor display is mounted in the center of the instrument cluster to keep tabs on speed, range, power output and other basic information. It doesn’t have leaves or green lights or gimmicky eco-conscious back-patting – it looks like it came out of a concept car and it’s freaking cool. As is the single-speed push-button transmission selector that’s a dead-ringer for the unit in modern Aston Martins. Again, cool.

Here’s where Fiat gets to take my money.

And here’s a novel idea every automaker should adopt for their own EVs: on the center of the dash is an LED charge indicator that you can see from 50 feet away. In the daylight. With sunglasses on. Then there’s the smartphone app that allows you to keep tabs on battery status, set charging times, unlock the car, pre-heat or cool the interior and the battery and honk the horn – especially fun to terrorize people checking out the flashy orange paint and white interior (For the record, I’m opting for the dark grey exterior with orange accents and more subtle black interior).

So what’s the downside? First, the 500e is only available in California. Second, it’s basically double the cost of the entry-level 500 at $32,500.

But here’s where Fiat gets to take my money.

For a three-year lease, I put $995 down and pay $199 a month. If you price out a similarly specced 500 Pop model, that’s the same exact price. That’s right. Fiat has managed to lease the 500e for the same payment as its gasoline counterpart – which is probably one of the reasons they’re rumored to be losing around $10,000 a piece on each 500e they sell. Fiat’s loss, my gain, here’s my credit report.

And just to sweeten the deal, they’ve partnered with Enterprise to give you 12 free day-long rentals a year for those times you need to drive further (or haul something) that the 500e can’t handle. Oh, and they’ll roll in the $1,995 cost of the charger and installation into the lease price.

So what Fiat’s done is make an affordable, barely compromised, stylish EV that not only gives enthusiasts an electric car with character, it’s so damn inexpensive you’d be a fool for not putting it at the top of your EV short list. And it’s a short list to begin with.

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